Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “dirty” come from?

Dirty comes from Middle English dirti, which derives from Middle English dritti, with the original meaning now unknown.

dirty (English): Unclean; covered with or containing unpleasant...

Definitions

  1. Unclean; covered with or containing unpleasant...

Ancestry of “dirty”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishdirti—
2Middle Englishdritti—

Words derived from “dirty”

  • dirtiest
  • dirtiness
  • dirtily
  • dirtyish
  • dirtieth
  • nondirty
  • dirty-handedness
  • dirtybadwrong
  • bedirty
  • dirty-handed
  • ダーティ
  • doti
Every word from Middle English dritti →